Family
by wild-springflower
Summary: One night Cobb and Arthur get into a fight, and Cobb just thinks about his team, and how much like family they are.  ok, summary sucks! sorry!  major fluff, set before the movie, i dont think there are any spoilers!


**AN/ yay! My first Inception fic! So, I apologize if the characters are, well, out of character, but this is my first attempt! And I think I might have overdone Eames's whole "Love, darling" thing, but I think that's really cute! :) anywho, I apologize for any grammar or spelling errors, I typed this up late, so, there are probably some mistakes! Dont forget to review and tell me what you think, if there's something you dont like about this, tell me so that I can fix it in future fics! Anywho, without further adieu... ENJOY! **

"Cobb, it's just another dead end! I need more information, not just guesses!"

Mal heard shouting as she entered the big warehouse, that was never a good sign.

The team was currently trying to extract some information from a big-shot business man, but Arthur couldn't find hardly any information on the man. The man currently went under an alias by the name Adam Pendifield, and that name took a fast nosedive to nowhere.

The fact was, Arthur needed more information on the man, what his daily life was like, which bank he went to, in order to find out who he really was.

"Well I don't have anymore information Arthur, so you're gonna have to do your best without it!"

"So my best without it?" Arthur yelled, infuriated, "That's what I _have_ been doing! _All_ day! For the past _three _days! And I keep hitting dead ends! I don't know enough about him!"

"Well I haven't been able to find anything out yet, so just, follow his family tree or something."

"Family tree? Cobb, Adam Pendifield is not a real person, ergo, no history, no family, no nothing!"

Mal exchanged a look with Eames who just gave her a shrug in return. Eames was sitting in a chair on the other side of the room. He's been present throughout the entire argument and still didn't know much hat all about what was going on.

Cobb was about to shout a reply but Mal interrupted him, "Enough!" She yelled, the room went deftly silent, all eyes on her now. "It's been a long, hard day and we're all just a little tired. Let's take a step down and relax for a little while. OK?"

Arthur shot Cobb an icy glare before retreating back into the small room he called his own.

Cobb let out a frustrated sigh, flopping into one of the many sofa-chairs they had in the big garage.

"Eames, go talk to Arthur, try to calm him down a bit." Mal instructed as she crossed the small distance between herself and her husband.

"Alright love," Eames said standing, "Although I doubt he'll want to talk to me right now." Eames left the room and Mal sat down next to Cobb, looking at him intently. "What happened?" She asked, almost afraid to ask.

"Nothing, it was just a little disagreement. I couldn't get any new information on Pendifield and he got angry because then he couldn't do his job, and then things just kinda of escalated from there."

Mal sighed, "We're just tired and frustrated right now. I'm sure after a quick breather and a small nap we'll all be fine."

_**Dream**_

Eames walked to the opening of the small room and knocked lightly on the door. "Arthur darling, can I come in?"

There was no reply but Eames took the silence as a yes and carefully walked through the door.

The once neat room looked now like a disaster area after a hurricane came through. Papers were scattered around the room, books thrown askew across the floor. Arthur let out a frustrated grunt as he kicked his desk, more papers falling to the ground.

"What?" He asked, his voice demanding and harsh.

"Love, you mustn't let it get to you. We're all frustrated because of this stupid case, you're not the only one."

"You seem fine." Arthur mumbles, stopping his angry rampage for a minute while he listened to Eames talk,

"My part in the mission hasn't really come up yet. See, Cobb goes out and tries to find out information on the mark, while also helping Mal make up some landscapes. You sit here and dig up all the information you can, and me? I just turn into whoever Cobb tells me to, once all the information has been gathered."

"Ah." Arthur said flatly. He appeared not to want to talk anymore, although Eames was surprised he'd talked at all. While the Point Man and the Forger weren't enemies, they didn't particularly enjoy one anothers presence, let alone carry on conversations longer than five minutes on a topic that wasn't about their current job."

"Arthur love, how about you take a break for a while? I can bring you some tea if you'd like, but you should relax."

"We don't have time to relax Eames! We have to find out," Arthur let out a yell of frustration, "**who this guy is!**" He kicked his desk for each word, then he kicked it one more time for good measure.

"Alright, I'll bring you a glass in a little while, until then how about you work on cleaning up this mess, huh darling?" And without waiting for an answer, or an objection as it would have been, Eames spun on his heel and walked out of the room, ready to go make some tea.

With a sigh Arthur began to clean up the mess his childish anger has caused. Maybe Eames was right, maybe they just needed a break. When he thought about it, Arthur realized what a toll three days without sleep was taking on his body. He _was_ pretty tired...

_**Dream**_

Cobb looked up with a start as Eames exited the room, "Well?" He questioned.

"Hes'" Eames paused, slouching into the couch, "Pretty upset."

Cobb looked at the ground, he felt terrible, he really did. He hadn't meant for the argument to get that harsh, hell, he hadn't even wanted the argument, seeing as the two had never fought once; not even when they first met.

"It's OK love, it's not your fault. Everyone is kind of on edge right now, that's all."

"That's right," Mal agreed. "Like I said, relax, that's what we need to do."

"Ah, sweetheart, there is a slight problem with that. Arthur will have nothing to do with it, he doesn't want to take a break. Or, that's what he told me. Although, he did make quite a mess in there so I told him to pick that up while I went and made him some tea."

"Tea?" Cobb raised an eyebrow in doubt.

"Tea fixes everything love." Eames smiled, then stood, "And on that note, I've got to go make some."

Cobb let out a sigh, rubbing a hand over his face.

"Dom, things will be better tomorrow, you'll see." Mal put a comforting hand on his back, leaning in to kiss him lightly on the lips.

"I hope you're right." And Cobb really did, he would hate to see a good work relationship go to the dogs. Not to mention, Cobb had begun to think of himself and Arthur as friends, and that was a friendship Cobb wanted to keep.

A little while later (Cobb hadn't bothered to keep track of time because he really didn't care) Eames re-entered the room, a steaming glass of tea balanced on the plate in his hand.

"Can I do that?" Cobb asked suddenly, striding over to Eames.

"You want to bring this to Arthur?"

Cobb nodded, just now realizing how silly that was; but Eames just shrugged.

"It's fine by me, here you are love." Eames, careful not to spill the smoldering liquid, handed the plate off the Cobb.

Once before entering the room Dom turned back to see Mal smiling at him, then he faced the door again and opened it just wide enough to get inside.

"Arthur, I've got the tea Eames promised you, although, knowing him, he probably slipped something into it." Cobb joked, surprised not to hear at least a grunt of agreement, Arthur normally liked it when others picked on Eames for a change. _'Is he really __**that**__ mad at me?'___Cobb wondered.

Then, looking around the room Cobb saw why it was so quiet. Curled up in his chair, his head resting on his hands which were on top of some files, was Arthur, fast asleep.

Cobb smiled inwardly at the small form slouched over the desk. Papers were still strewn across the floor, remnants of the destruction that had once enveloped the room.

Right now, everything was so peaceful. Cobb would probably have to shoot himself in the foot if he disrupted the sleeping boy.

That thought surprised Cobb, he hadn't referred to Arthur as a boy since they had first met, what seemed like years ago, when, in reality it wasn't that long ago at all. In that short time Cobb had watched Arthur turn from a frightened, scarred, boy into the man laying in from of him.

It was funny though, because the moment Dom thought this, he knew he was wrong. Arthur wasn't, in any sense of the word, a boy, but, he wasn't a man either. Cobb could tell this by looking around the room, the papers and books that still laid there. Cobb could tell by the way he had shouted earlier, letting out his anger. Cobb could tell by the fear that would glint in his eyes for a split second when things didn't go according to plan. Cobb could tell by the way he was laying there now, no, not a man, but not a boy either.

Cobb distributed the unwanted tea on top of a file cabinet, and began to clean up the remains of the mess as quietly as he could. Then, once everything was clean, Cobb pulled a blanket out of one of the many drawers and draped it over Arthur's shoulders.

Arthur barley stirred, and Dom wanted to leave it that way. So, without another though, he retreated from the room and out into the warm living space, things already seeming to brighten up.

Mal sat pleasantly talking to Eames in the middle of the room.

"How is our darling Arthur?" Eames asked as Cobb tiptoed over. "Did he enjoy the tea?"

"He didn't drink it." Cobb answered shortly.

"He didn't? Well, never in my life have I known someone to turn down a cup of tea."

"Was he still upset?" Mal questioned, ignoring Eames.

"No, he didn't seem upset. 'Course I wouldn't know for sure."

"What do you mean?" Mal asked, and almost simultaneously Eames inquired, "Did you even talk to him love?"

Cobb laughed, "No, no I didn't. He was asleep when I went in there."

"He was?" Eames jumped up excitedly, Cobb could almost see the gears turning in the Brits head as he plotted evil things to do to the slumbering Point Man.

"Eames," Cobb said, warning in his voice. "You will _not_ go bother Arthur in any way!"

The forger let out a sigh of disappointment, flopping back into his seat, "Alright."

"Thank you." Cobb smiled softly, sitting next to Mal. This was his team, the four of them; they'd been together for quite sometime and now it seemed as if they could read each others minds. They all had a strange way of sensing how the others felt. They had each others backs, and they'd gladly drop everything to help one another.

And Cobb knew that no matter how many times they argued, no matter the intensity of the argument, they'd always be family.


End file.
